Morning
This morning's ride into work was great. A little bit cold (high 30s), but I was layered up and feeling pretty comfortable. If there's one thing I learned last fall, it's that full finger gloves are crucial in these temperatures and my knit wool gloves are perfect for current morning conditions. My ears did get a little cold, but otherwise I was perfectly attired.
Physically speaking, my legs felt simultaneously at home and out of shape once I got underway. It was good to be pedaling again, but it's going to be a few weeks before I build my legs back up to some semblance of the strength I ended last year with. I didn't push too hard this morning until I got to the downhill at Bernard, then I tried to keep pace with traffic the rest of the way through Downtown Spokane. That was, especially fun today since I hit every light perfectly and sailed all the way through town. I maxed out at 61 km/h without too much effort and hit all the lights. I realized after I got to work that for perhaps the first time ever I had completed the morning run without taking my feet off my pedals once.
The Trek itself rode pretty smoothly after a few months off. The Continental City Rides that I'm running felt pretty good and reasonably fast even though I don't have them at max pressure right now. The new bottom bracket performed as hoped and turned smoothly and silently. My freshly cleaned and lubed chain offered no audible complaints either; a definite relief after the rust flecked disaster it appeared to be back in January.
Afternoon
The afternoon ride was good as well. A pleasant 50° allowed me to shed the vest I wore in the morning, but otherwise I stayed with my attire from the morning. I decided to ride my usual High Drive return route and felt pretty strong most of the way while riding at a comfortable pace. My legs definitely felt the burn most of the way up the hill and I had to unzip my top all the way for ventilation purpose, but I felt solid. I ended up with a ride time just over 39 minutes and was really happy about that compared to what I did last year at a similar point in the season.
Tonight, post ride, I feel like I could go again tomorrow no sweat, but I'm going to ease back into it and go every other day this week to give myself some recovery time. I also really want to get a short haircut tomorrow so helmet hair will be a complete non issue for the next couple months.
Not much else to say at this point. It's good to be pedaling again.